The HigherSites Blog

How do I get to number one in Google?

By David Hurst

This is the question that every website owner asks me and the one to which there is no straightforward easy answer. My dad always used to impress upon me that you can’t get something for nothing. Google is the same. You want a top rank, you’re going to have to put in some effort. Quick fixes invariably don’t work.

Here’s how I answer the impossible question: “How do I get to number one in Google?”

1. Stop fixating on positions!
   Seriously, why bother giving yourself this headache? Rankings fluctuate all the time and if you bury yourself in reams of ranking reports, you will have a miserable life! It’s useful to keep an eye on your various rankings, on say a monthly basis, but this should not be your focus.
2. Write great content!
   That’s what your visitors come looking for, that’s what Google is interested in, so that’s what is required for better rankings. However, don’t go writing loads of keyword heavy splurge - Google won’t be fooled, and your visitors won’t be sticking around or coming back. Remember: you write your content for your visitors, not the search engine. It’s critical to understand that point.
3. Use a variety of media types.
   Supplement your text content with images (complete with ALT descriptions of course), because that will make your content more readable. Users generally won’t read pages upon pages of pure text - you need to break it up with diagrams and images wherever possible. Consider using video on some of your pages, and make sure you syndicate this to YouTube, Doodacky and others. Also, transcribe the content of the video for users with hearing difficulty… remember, Google is a user with hearing difficulty.
4. Allow social interaction.
   Let your visitors comment on your articles, or review your products. This builds trust and creates a community feel to your website. Additionally, your users will be creating search engine friendly content for you!
5. Regular updates.
   Regularly updated and fresh content is important.

You’ll notice I didn’t mention links there, and yet Google is very interested in inbound links to your website. The simple reason is: if you’re creating great content, people will link to you, and that’s the best sort of link building you can do.

SEO isn’t so much about tweaking tags and keywords any more. Google keeps raising the bar and making its algorithm smarter. So, why not just do the smart thing, and focus on making your website better and better? As a result, your visitors will come back, your website will be generating a “buzz” online, and Google will take note.

If you focus on the content first, the rankings will come. If you have no patience, chuck some money at AdWords!

Is SEO dead?

By David Hurst

The Internet. It’s a changing beast. I look back fondly on the days where META Keywords held the key to unlock search engine success. I would finish a website, tap in some keywords and submit it to HotBot, Infoseek et al, check the rankings a few minutes later, re-tweak the keywords, re-submit, and then check again. Heck, it was possible to get anything to the top of the search engines within a few hours. Things have moved on.

Progress is a good thing. Early Internet users will no doubt recall that every search engine query returned copious amounts of porn websites, no matter what keywords you entered, and whilst some might have been quite happy with this arrangment, it was abundantly obvious that the search engines needed to pick up their game somewhat. This is the principal reason behind Google’s meteoric rise. Indeed, Google claim that more than 1,000 years of programming time has been devoted to their algorithm, and development is still ongoing. In fact, they sometimes make as many as 10 changes to the algorithm each week.

Some of these changes are made to specifically counteract the actions of Search Engine Optimisation, but most are refinements that help to deliver better search results for Google users. Google’s motivation for making these continuous refinements could hardly be considered altruistic - I’m sure they are acutely aware of the fickle nature of the Internet user. In all likelihood, you are a Google user, particularly considering that (as at September 2009) more than 83% of the world’s search traffic ends up at Google’s door. But, I’m guessing that you probably don’t have any special love or affection for Google itself, you probably don’t go home and worship before an effigy of the Google logo and if another search engine came along that offered you better speed and more relevance you would have little or no hesitation in switching.

Herein lies a key concept in the world of search engine marketing: Google’s index and algorithm is what makes them the best, and they know that. It stands to reason therefore that Google would go to some lengths to protect their main asset, particularly when their revenue stream (Adwords) depends upon the popularity of the engine. If we all stopped using Google, then companies would stop spending money on pay-per-click advertising with Adwords. Given that Google makes its money from the sponsored listings on the search page and not the natural search results, which do you think they would rather see businesses using? So, any trick SEO experts can come up with to manipulate the algorithm in their favour will sooner or later be discovered and legislated against, usually with fairly drastic consequences for the rankings of the websites that are using such tricks.

So what’s left? Are we as website owners forced to become subject to the whims of a corporate giant that is beginning to look like it has aspirations for complete global domination in all areas of IT and Internet? Well, generally speaking, yes we are. Google control their index and regardless of what some SEO companies will tell you, it’s not really possible to manipulate that index and enjoy long term benefits. Every week that goes by, Google shut the doors on more and more under-handed or “black hat” SEO techniques, and woe betide any website employing them. And this may well prompt you to ask the question that I used to title this post: Is SEO dead?

No, far from it. However, as the landscape of search changes, we have to adapt and change too. Businesses that are prepared to be agile and make changes to their online offering will always fair better. The ever increasing focus on social interaction and networking means changes for us. Why? Because Google will give the people what they want - it has to - and the people want social interaction. Internet users love Facebook, Twitter and blogging. Why? Because it gives them a voice. Give customers to your e-commerce store a chance to come and review your products and guess what? They will come and review. Further, they will be creating content for you, content that Google will be interested in indexing. Yes, our whole perspective is changing.

What is SEO now? Sure, there is a need to get your code optimised, but that’s a one-off task. What can we do on an ongoing basis to increase our search engine ranking? Believe it or not the answer is simple. Content.

Write more content and you will have more content in the index and more chances that people search for you will find you. Write good quality content for your visitors and they will enjoy their visit to your website. Regularly update the content on your website and your visitors will come back regularly, and so will the Googlebot. Further, if your content is great, other websites will link to yours and that will increase your profile online and your search engine rankings.

Spread your content through all available social networks and you will massively increase the number of people looking at and linking to your content. Google is very good at identifying website that have an online “buzz” about them, and it is these sites that will enjoy the best rankings.

Speaking of rankings though, don’t fixate on your position! You will have a miserable life constantly checking search engine ranking reports and trying to explain minor shifts this way or that way in your rankings for this query or that query. No, instead focus on increasing the traffic to your website. Watch your analytics and visitor stats. Then, make the most of the visitors you are getting to the website. Surely, you would rather make more money from the visitors that you do have than less money from a greater number of visitors?

SEO is not dead, but it doesn’t really revolve around tweaking keywords and code any more. Link farms are being factored out of the algorithm on a daily basis. There are fewer and fewer quick fixes, and those that still exist or that spring up in the future will be short lived too. Really, many more things are involved with online marketing, but we’re only talking about the things we should be doing anyway. You don’t get something for nothing. Invest time and effort in your website and it will pay dividends. Leave your website to stagnate and no amount of money or time invested in SEO is going to get you a lasting top ranking in Google or any other search engine.

Three hour workshop on Search Engine Optimisation

David and Steve will be presenting the latest edition of their Search Engine Optimisation workshop for Connecting Somerset on the 18 June. The venue will likely be the Monks Yard, just outside Ilminster - easily accessed from the A303 or M5.

There is a nominal fee levied by Somerset County Council to cover the cost of hiring the venue and the buffet lunch. This is normally about £20.

To register your interest or book your place, please call Matt Ballard of the Economy and Europe Group at Somerset County Council on 01823 355867, or call David at HigherSites on 01935 426958.

3 hour search engine workshop for Connecting Somerset

Following the success of our many previous workshops and as part of our continued involvement with the Connecting Somerset Technology for Business Programme, HigherSites will be presenting a 3 hour online marketing workshop on the 19 November 2008 at The Exchange in Bridgwater. The fully updated programme will include: SEO myth busting; background information on the science of search; an introduction to standards compliance and its impact on search engine ranking; tips and guidance on how to get your website ranked better; an introduction to pay-per-click (PPC) marketing with Google AdWords, and; much more.

The workshop content is aimed at both enabling businesses to make better choices in choosing a search engine marketing professional, and for those wishing to do their own optimisation work. Feedback from all our previous workshop sessions has been consistently excellent.

There is a nominal price of £20 per delegate, which covers the expert tuition and a buffet lunch, with an opportunity to talk to our search engine professionals on a one-to-one basis.

The workshop will be presented by our resident online marketing expert, David Hurst. David is a Google Accredited Professional for AdWords management and boasts almost 12 years’ industry experience.

For more information about attending, please contact us or visit the Connecting Somerset website.

How often does Google change its algorithms?

Author: David Hurst

I have been asked this question many times through my own personal blog and whilst delivering search engine marketing workshops and training. The answer is simple: often.

Many SEO professionals entertain the belief that Google shroud their activities in a cloud of mystery and that nobody knows the actual answer apart from Google employees. This isn’t actually the case. Google are reasonably open about how they manage their algorithms (without giving away any trade secrets, of course) - you just need to know where to look to get the information.

Google have several teams dedicated to continuously improving various aspects of their ranking algorithm, and this team makes regular changes to the algorithm - sometimes as often as 10 times per week!

Most of these changes are minor, and all are intended to improve the user search experience, by offering improved localised results for example, or streamlining the algorithm code to improve performance. Sometimes the changes have more significant implications for search engine optimisation and can cause websites to slip down the rankings for particular keyphrases. There’s always a good reason for the changes and the best course of action if your website has been affected is always to go back to basics: content, content, content.